For 2013 to be categorised as a success, the Australian Orica-GreenEDGE team simply must win a stage of this years Tour de France.

National titles, Tour Down Under wins, stage wins at tours throughout Europe, classic victories at Milan- San Remo and even a stage win at both the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a Espana have all been achieved by the fledgling team since their introduction to the world tour in 2012.

All told, in their debut year, the team collected three one-day wins, including world tour victories by Simon Gerrans at Milan-San Remo and Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, four overall stage race wins, including another Gerrans win at the Tour Down Under and 18 other stage victories.

"Whoop-de-do" say harsh judges in the cycling world. Show us a Tour de France stage win.

That is too harsh of course, as stage victories at Le Tour don’t come cheap.

The team’s best sprinter, Matthew Goss, is up against one of the best sprinters of all-time in Mark Cavendish, while Gerrans is a marked man when it comes to breakaways.

But still, 2013 will be defined by what happens over the next three weeks.

The nine-man Orica-GreenEDGE lining up for their second Tour de France include six who are returning from last year, along with three riders who will make their Tour debut.

Last year Orica-GreenEDGE put virtually every egg in Goss’s sprint basket, rarely seeking a spot in a breakaway as they rode in support of the Tasmanian. This year will be different with Tour debutants Simon Clarke and Cameron Meyer, Swiss rider Michael Albasini and Gerrans all expected to be given a longer leash.

It’s the sprints, medium mountain stages and breakaways that Australian fans will be looking for.

Team members are:

Stuart O'Grady ... lining up for 17th Tour.Source: AAP

Stuart O’Grady, 39, South Australia

The evergreen O’Grady will captain the team in his 17th Tour. It equals the record of George Hincapie and the South Australian has stated he hopes to sign off on a career that has delivered two stage wins and nine days in yellow, along with four runner-up finishes in the sprinters classification and Olympic, world and Commonwealth gold. The savvy tactician also knows a thing or two about winning the Tour, having supported Carlos Sastre to victory in 2008 when riding for Team CSC.

Simon Gerrans, 33, Victoria

Like O’Grady, Gerrans is a master tactician who reads a race as well as any in the peloton. The first Aussie to win a stage of each Grand Tour, the 33-year-old will be keen to add to his 2008 stage win when he hung in over the mountains and then sprinted home from a four-man breakaway in the final metres. Getting into the break is more and more difficult for the man from the Victorian high country as he is now a marked rider, more so after his win in last year’s Milan San-Remo when he outfoxed the likes of Fabian Cancellara and Vincenzo Nibali. In his eighth Tour de France, and has built his season around performing well in July and will be selective on which stages to attack.

Matt Goss, 26, Tasmania

There was huge pressure on Goss last year to bag a Tour de France stage win or the overall sprint classification. And with five top-three stage finishes he was on track to fight for the overall title until he was docked 30 points for an illegal sprint against Peter Sagan on stage 12, effectively ending any hopes.

Goss doesn’t mind it tough, as evidenced by his Milan San-Remo win in 2011, so he can climb and sprint at the end of a tough day – but so can Sagan. The lumpy stages seem his best chance of a win this year, as opposed to the flat days when up against the might of Mark Cavendish and André Greipel.

Darryl Impey, 28, South Africa

The South African’s role will be to deliver Goss to the finish line as the last man in the sprint train. The current South African time trial champion and former winner of the Tour of Turkey will try and outsmart the teams of Cavendish and Greipel, which is no easy task.

Brett Lancaster, 33, Victoria

The popular 33-year-old from Shepparton in country Victoria will line up in his sixth Tour. Last year he finished sixth in the opening prologue time trial and he’ll drive the sprint train for Goss and Impey in the final kilometres. An output of Australia’s track cycling gold medal factory, ‘Burt’ is an Olympic, Commonwealth Games and world championships gold medallist in the teams pursuit.

Svein Tuft, 36, Canada

Eight-time Canadian time trial champion Tuft will make his Tour de France debut at 36. A versatile rider who will play a varied role in the team, he has Grand Tour experience at the Giro and Vuelta. Tuft will play a key role in the team time trial but can also help chase down the escape to help put Goss in the picture on the flat stages.

Cameron Meyer ... transferring talents to road.Source: AAP

Michael Albasini, 32, Switzerland

Making his fifth appearance at the Tour de France, the all-rounder will, like Gerrans, be on the lookout for opportunities. The 32-year-old has won a stage of the Vuelta but not the Tour, so will be hoping to break that duck this year.

Simon Clarke, 26, Victoria

Clarke made a grand start to his Grand Tour career last year by winning a stage of the Vuelta a Espana on his way to claiming the mountain classification. If he gets the chance he can ride for the win on the medium mountain stages but will be valuable in working for his teammates when required also.

Cameron Meyer, 25, Western Australia

Rising up the ranks with a bullet, like Lancaster and O’Grady before him, Meyer has come to the road via a track career that has netted six world titles. Anyone who witnessed his win in the points race at the world titles in Melbourne last year will say it was one of the most amazing rides they have seen. The 25-year-old is in strong form, having won the opening time trial at the Tour of Suisse, spending two days in yellow before finishing inside the top 10. Touted as the next Australian Grand Tour contender, this will be his fourth Grand Tour but his first Tour de France.

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